Talk About a New Breed of Our Species: The Genetically Engineered Human

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2010
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Haverford College. Department of Religion
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
Genetic engineering has proven to be quite a hot topic that is, and continues to be, very controversial. Now that the idea of human genetic engineering has surfaced, people have become even more excited and/or anxious over how it will effect our species in the future. At the core of the debate is how the autonomy, dignity and integrity inherent to all individuals will change - whether for better or worse. Two ideas that I want to discuss is (1) the idea of being oneself and (2) the idea of instrumentalizing human nature. In being oneself, will a person still be able to have the capacity to live his/her life according to his/her own authorship, or will genetic manipulation prevent a person from being able to grow and become an individual. In instrumentalization, will genetic enhancement truly interfere with a person's autonomy because the designer is seeing him/her as a creature of his/her preference, or is it possible that genetic intervention, because we are uncertain and cannot predict the future, will not be definitively able to harm an individual. I do not plan to be an authority on this subject because different people have different views on what is integrity and autonomy. All I wish to do is open up a space for discourse and more understanding on the topic, and ask that people be more conscious of the thoughts and worries of not just the people who agree with them in their position but the people who are in the opposite stance on the topic.
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